Soulja Boy
American rapper and record producer (born 1990)
DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), better known by his stage name Soulja Boy (formerly Soulja Boy Tell 'Em), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence with his self-released 2007 debut single, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)", which peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 for seven non-consecutive weeks. After a commercial re-release by Collipark Music, an imprint of Interscope Records, the song and its follow-up, "Soulja Girl", both preceded his debut studio album, Souljaboytellem.com (2007). While critical reception was generally negative, the album peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 and spawned the single "Yahhh!"
His second album, iSouljaBoyTellem (2008)—supported by the Billboard Hot 100-top 20 singles "Turn My Swag On" and "Kiss Me thru the Phone" (featuring Sammie)—was met with moderate commercial reception and a further decline in critical reception. Way was listed at number 18 on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2010, as he earned US$7 million that year. His third album, The DeAndre Way (2010)—supported by the top 40 single "Pretty Boy Swag"—saw a steeper decline in commercial reception, leading him to part ways with Interscope in favor of an independent career.
Way is noted for his pioneering use of grassroots social media and digital marketing strategies during his mainstream popularity. Outside of recording, he has pursued side ventures including video game development, record production for other artists, and his record label Stacks on Deck Entertainment, through which he has signed rappers including Lil B and Riff Raff. He has received a Grammy Award nomination, as well as three BET Award and four Teen Choice Award nominations.
Early life
Way was born in Chicago, Illinois, and at age six moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he became interested in rap music.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Soulja Boy” is american rapper and record producer (born 1990). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Soulja, American and rapper, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q313080. VIAF identifies the subject as 85813826. The Library of Congress control number is no2007128688. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990, 2007, 2008 and 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “Soulja Boy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.